The Right Fight: The Culinary Union vs the Elardi Family in Las Vegas, 1991-1998

Abstract

Abstract: Organized Labor commands a major role in the operations of Las Vegas's hotel and casino industry. The current dominant position of the Culinary Union that includes hotel workers as well as casino employees in the large gaming properties arose from bitter struggles between the industry and labor dating back to the 1970s, and the murder of union leader Elmer "Al" Bramlet. The strike against the Elardi family's Frontier Casino at the outset of the 1990s brings into focus the challenges of union organization in a Right-to-Work state such as Nevada and the national anti-labor policies initiated by Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s. Wages, conditions of work, scope of work, healthcare, equal pay for equal work (status of male and female workers), the right to strike, and the worker's right to be rehired by an employer also became hard-fought causes in the struggle for union contracts and worker representation by a union. The strike against the Frontier Casino and other Elardi properties became a key point of controversy in the Culinary Union's battle to represent the interests of workers across the broad spectrum of Las Vegas's hotel-casinos from the smallest casinos to the largest resort-hotel-casinos with their many amenities of entertainment, fine dining, recreational facilities, and in some cases art galleries.